Coss’ distinctive work explores “contemporary social issues, existential questions, cultural inheritance, and the natural world. "Traces" is akin to an archaeological dig of my cultural inheritance, exploring a story around artifacts and the cultural remnants of life.”

The sculpture uses imagery of an enduring human bone as a relic to tell this story. Thirteen wedding gowns cover the framework of a large-scale pelvic bone to speak to the story of birth and rebirth, the ties that bind, a union of souls, and cultural memory passed from one generation to another.

This striking sculpture in the Atrium Gallery at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) can be seen from February 2-June 3, 2019. For this art installation, the artist collaborated with her daughters, Roxy and Sam, to create a soundtrack, Eternal, with a heartbeat as a foundation. The music merges a heartbeat with a tenor saxophone and the rhythms of tap-dancing. The outcome creates a story of lineage, gender, civilization, and belonging.